US Soccer Hosted by Venezuela / Chavez

Will be interesting to see the demonstrations this week as Venezuela hosts the Copa America 2007 soccer tournament, attended by the USA.

Already there have been anti-Chavez demonstrations, but little recognition of that in our US media... likely after the media leave Venezuela, there will be some retribution for the citizenry not showing the proper decorum and respect to Fidel JR.

More ATL Bikers Behaving Badly

Almost had to do some body work on my car the other day. Was driving by "Vining's Mountain" and my light had turned green. A couple of cars came down the mountain on my right and slid through their red light as they made right turns into my lane just before my light turned green... as I pull out in the intersection, a cyclist comes down the hill late and does the same thing... if I'd have been a little quicker on the gas, he'd have T-Boned me.

I beeped at him nicely, and he gave me a silly little wave telling me to pass .... still clueless...

Same road. Same rules. Right.

US vs Venezuela

Maybe sooner than you think.

Not military.

The US Men's Soccer team is in Venezuela partaking in the Copa America. And if the relatively young team we've sent down there does well, it is entirely possible that the US could face off against the newest, communist dictatorship.

And it will mean something.

Venezuela (I think), like many nations around the world, uses government money to support/fund their national squads. Would be nice to face them on their home turf and give the government of Venezuela (not the people) a proper smackdown.

Free At Last

Free At Last, Thank God Almighty, Paris Hilton is free at last.

I just haven't been the same since she was incarcerated.

Just in time to keep the over reported military operations Arrowhead Ripper and Phantom Thunder from dominating the media portals.

AH! I'm MOLTing!

Where, oh where, has my humidity gone?

The recent drought here in Georgia (and Bama-lama) is torturing the region in many ways.

The least of which I'm sure are my personal issues with it.

But geez! We usually get 80% humidity at least. The latitude at which I reside, is normally dominated by desert/arid regions around the rest of the globe. Frequent hurricanes making landfall nearby and upswells of warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico colliding with colder air from Canada usually ensure that we get our fair share of moisture.

Things just haven't followed true to plan lately though. Blame the hypocritical eco-celebs/pols and their G5s I guess. Last night, while talking to my mother, I checked the weather and noticed that our humidity was in the 50's. Currently, it's only 61%.

Unreal. Atypical.

My nose is 'toast'.

But it does give me an excuse to rub the Mrs. down in lubricant. ;)

Credit Card Companies Don't Care About Security...

See the commercial here?



No one even thought to check the signature of the elephant. They even let a different species purchase goods on a human's credit card! Geez. They never check those things. -_-

Vaseline - A Great Marital Aid

... as long as you don't have doors with lever handles...

"Praise the maker" for inventing locks ;)

Escape from Entropy

$3000 Transmission replacement looming
Hard Drive failure
Project deadline approaching
House desperately needs a paint job

Was nice to get away for a week at the Redneck Riviera.

Embarrasing Moment at the GYN

Accompanied the wife to her checkup and was left in the waiting room with the other husbands. About 15 minutes into the appointment, the waiting room is audibly assualted when my cell phone screams 'Love Shack'. That's the ringtone that plays when my wife calls.

Sheepishly, and not understanding why she'd be calling me, I apologized to everyone saying I never expected to get a call from her in there.

Watches?

I no longer wear a watch on a regular basis. And listening to Atlanta's favorite cheapskate, Clark Howard, on the radio this afternoon confirmed what I'd been thinking for years. Many people are forgoing watches.

I don't need one. I have a clock on my cellphone, visible when closed. I work in an IT environment and always have a clock on my PC to refer to. Then there's a clock in the car and the clocks in my house. Not to mention the myriad of television monitors or billboards I pass in my daily life that have a clock present.

This trend is even more prevalent among teenagers, who in a report cited by Clark Howard, largely eschew the wrist clock. Why should they bother? They are forever attached to their texting device of choice, which undoubtedly comes with a clock...

Older folks however, still can't leave the house without them.

The only reason I use a watch? For exercise or sporting events.

No Guns at VBS

The organizers of my church's vacation bible school have gone over the deep end.

It turns out that in printing up the colored shirts for the week long program, they used a font that made the zeros in 2007 look too much like the business end of a gun barrel.

Panic, mayhem and hand wringing ensued. We can't have that.

This year's Vaction Bible School theme? "Avalanche Ranch." Cowboys. The wild wild west. That'll never happen again I'm sure.

Next up, removing all 'L's from our VBS alphabet. Then maybe the O's and 0's too. Not to mention the always dangerous, double-barrelled '8'.

Gun 'education' seems to have fallen into the same trap as sex education. If we don't talk about it, and just teach abstienence, not to mention if prevent learning about it, we won't have any problems related to it.

So, just in time for our annual beach trip, I've requisitioned two new water guns for my kids. And I'm resealing my old trusty supersoaker. Not to mention last night at church, I taught my daughter how to shoot a rubber band with her fingers using the 'gun' technique.

KerPow!

Hopefully resuming previously scheduled programming...

Where have I been?

No, I've not been doing time for a road rage incident regarding rogue bicycling gangs on Atlanta streets..

...just been away from the keyboard dealing with life, and escaping from it ;)

Waterrr...

We may get some rain in Atlanta today... that's good. The past three months have been the second driest on record according to the news report the other day...

See, hurricanes are good for something. :D

Actually, if it weren't for our proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, and the frequent tropical storms that impale themselves upon our region, the Southeast US would likely be a desert.

So for the past month or so, we've had the water police patrolling neighborhoods, encouraging neighbors to finger their neighbors for watering indiscretion, and are restricted to an odd/even day watering arrangement. Heck, some localities are restricted to once a week.

But I find it odd that if you have recently had professionally installed landscaping, you can then water your lawn w/o much restriction for the next 30 days... I guess the message there is that if you can pay someone to install some plants you're golden. God forbid you do it yourself.

If I pay the kid next door, does that count?

Michael Vick - on the way out?

I have enjoyed watching Mr. Vick play on the gridiron for the Atlanta Falcons the last couple of years, but as I've alluded to, he's losing all credibility.

I want him in Atlanta, but too many 'problems' keep arising. The latest fiasco with his potential dog fighting involvement seems to have cost him his endorsement of the AirTran carrier. He may not be involved in dogfighting, but poor decisions about who he associates with is going to get him in even more hot water. The NFL may suspend him for weeks due to behavior detrimental to the league's image.

It's consequences like that that are leading me to think it would be better for Mr. Vick to move on. What a waste of talent.